HomeViews, TripAdvisor for property, has officially launched with independent reviews from residents about developments in London.
HomeViews invites prospective buyers and tenants to read reviews of residential developments. The platform allows tenants and owners to contribute insights and honest reviews of residential developments, creating a new and powerful research and marketing tool in the residential property sector.
Reviews are provided by three categories of contributors: residents, viewers, and industry professionals. The reviews include insights and commentary, with ratings for design, lifestyle, location, value and an overall score. HomeViews brings transparency to the residential property marketplace, as industry insights are brought together with practical feedback from residents on what it’s really like to live in these new developments.
Rory Cramer, Co-founder of HomeViews, comes with 13 years in the residential development sector having been a Director at CBRE before becoming Head of Consultancy at Marsh & Parsons New Homes. Rory said, “One of the biggest decisions we ever make, financially and emotionally, is choosing a home. Our mission at HomeViews is to share useful, trustworthy insights about residential developments to support those making that decision.
“At a time when around 100,000 new apartments are being delivered across London and thousands of people are discovering and considering new build for the first time, we see a real gap for a residential development review site.”
Rory runs the business with co-founders Hannah Marsh and Oliver McGinn, both of whom have experience of launching and scaling successful multi-million start-up businesses.
HomeViews has already generated thousands of reviews across both the “Build to Rent” sector as well as many large, premium, high-profile residential developments ‘built for sale’ in London. Simon Pratt, Managing Director, Ballymore Asset Management, said, “The transparency of the HomeViews site will encourage developers to be thinking one step ahead; we look forward to seeing how the property industry responds and the impact HomeViews will have.”
Fizzy Living, the market leading Build to Rent operator, has been amongst the first to embrace this transparency, and invite all its tenants to write a review on HomeViews. “Harry Downes, Managing Director of Fizzy Living, said, “Developers are accountable for keeping an open dialogue with their residents to ensure a best in class experience. We encourage all other developers to do the same to ensure London’s new build housing opportunities are the best they can be.”
The Homeowners Alliance has also shown support in their pursuit of better living standards;
Paula Higgins CEO of The Homeowners Alliance said, “We’re big supporters of what Homeviews is doing to improve transparency and to help people have as much information as possible about the homes they are looking at buying. By collating residents reviews of a development and a developer, everyone can now get real feedback on new build developments, beyond the glossy marketing brochure. We’re excited to see Homeviews grow.”
Whilst some property reviews were previously available, they were unverified, inconsistent and provided little information on the actual living experience within a development. The Founders of HomeViews have created the platform to support those looking for their next property with trustworthy, comparable reviews that go beyond the developer marketing brochures.
HomeViews has also partnered with Essential Living, be:here, Get Living, A2 Dominion and Quintain, who have invited their residents to write reviews of their developments, as well as having created partnerships with Hamptons International and Cushman & Wakefield.
Developers and BTR Operators can manage their schemes’ listings for free, respond to the reviews and use the HomeViews content for marketing collateral.
Hannah Marsh, Co-Founder and Marketing Director, said, “Engagement is key. Storytelling through resident voices, creating marketing opportunities for developers together with mutually beneficial brands and by creating the first awards given by resident ratings we feel that HomeViews will also become a powerful research and marketing tool within the property industry.”
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